Predicament
by Razzella
Summary: Sakura had been so close to getting away without more blood on her hands. Really, the village was within sprinting range right now – not that she could go there with enemy ninja so close. It was quite the predicament. Of course, upon acknowledging this, it became an even bigger predicament.
1. Chapter 1

An unknown force was carrying her legs as Sakura bolted through the trees surrounding her village – desperate to escape the danger surrounding her. The sour taste of metal was fresh in her mouth; a cough only succeeded in resupplying its eerie flavor. Her stomach was in knots, but she wasn't sure if that was due to her erratic heartbeat or her inability to catch her breath. A ragged gasp was able to momentarily pause her discomfort as a new body slammed her into the nearest tree abruptly. The sight of her own blood leaving her mouth sent her into a panic; her palms sweating as she shakily tried to throw a kunai at her attacker. It was more than clear she was going to die when they caught it with ease, though their smug expression was tucked behind a porcelain mask.

After all, nobody takes the assassination of a 'kage lightly – especially not the Land of Lightning it seems. Her own headband had been left back home, though once the dye on her hair wore off she knew it would start a war when they put two and two together. Her village was trying to _avoid _a war with these people, not start it themselves! It was stupid of her to think she could escape so quickly after the murder; she knew she should have waited in the safe house a little longer. Sakura Haruno had single-handedly started a new war between the countries – _what joy_. She figured she could now toss her hat in with the other S-Class Criminals at this point, may as well pay some admiration to the men she would be joining in Hell.

"Who sent you?" His voice revealed nothing about his feelings for the situation, but his body language did enough for her. He wanted to just kill her; she knew that would have to be the outcome before they strapped her down and beat the life out of her. She couldn't afford to give Konoha away, after all. Not that the seal on her tongue would let her tell them anything in the first place – it would sooner kill her than let her break.

"Fuck you." The words hung in the air coldly, the currently brown-haired woman smirking despite the blood peeking from behind her lips. A swift kick to her ribs released a rasp of a groan - her blue eyes slamming shut as she cursed the annoying, dry contacts she was wearing. To say she hated disguises would be a massive understatement; however, to say she hated Lightning-nin would be about right. It was probably very vain she hated dressing up more than the men she was supposed to be fighting, but she had to focus on something other than the fact she was getting her ass handed to her on a silver platter.

As her rather frail body tumbled along the ground she used her remaining energy to bolt into the air and as far away from her enemies as she could get. She had been _so close _to getting away without more blood on her hands. Really, the village was within sprinting range right now – not that she could go there with enemy ninja so close. It was quite the predicament.

Of course, upon acknowledging this, it became an even bigger predicament.

Had Sakura not seen the massive blue shark-man coming, she probably would have taken the sword right upside her head. Luckily for her, she managed to leap out of range before her current opponents and almost found herself thanking the man before everything clicked.

"Oh, _fuck me_." He howled in laughter, apparently not caring about the three dead men at his feet when she spoke. His grin was more than intimidating with their shark-like appearance, but the girl didn't waste her time worrying about it before she found herself sprinting back towards the village with much more panic. If the Akatsuki got their hands on her it was pretty much over – or they could use her as bait for Naruto, which was an even bigger pain than just dying. She couldn't afford to fight with her low chakra and poor condition; to be honest, Sasoris defeat had been more of a fluke than she cared admit to. Without the proper back up she doubted she had the ability to take on more of them, much less in her current condition.

Unfortunately, she couldn't outrun them either, it seemed.

"Nighty-night, little girl." His voice was mocking, but the familiarity of it was enough to confirm it was indeed her blue savior/enemy. Upon this realization, she was turned over to the darkness of unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura was fairly comfortable in her bed when she opened her eyes into slits, not bothered by the haziness surrounding her as they fluttered closed again. Her face snuggled deeper into the bed as sleep picked at the edges of her mind; she sighed contentedly within the soft surfaces she was tucked in to. When had her bed gotten so soft?

"Oh shit!" Almost immediately she shot up, fully aware of her surroundings as she looked around with some panic. She practically threw herself out of the warmth she had been surrounded by and searched for her weapons. Judging by her sluggish movements she realized she must have been sedated, and once she realized she had been both bathed and changed heat rose to her face. They weren't stupid enough to leave her weapons, which earned a defeated sigh from the female as she sat on the bed and ran her fingers through her hair. They had even went so far as to remove her contacts and get rid of the dye in her hair – she was officially back to being Konohas little cherry blossom.

Sakura made her way to the bathroom mirror and stuck out her tongue worriedly, tugging it out far enough to catch a glimpse of the small diamond there. They hadn't been able to remove her seal, at least. The only downfall to this was that she was rendered useless to the men who had captured her; that meant she wouldn't have long before she was disposed of appropriately. Damn.

The door came open slowly, but it was enough to spin a fairly irritated woman around to eye the intruder worriedly. She was surprised to find it was nobody she recognized from her bingo book and relaxed, approaching them carefully.

"Excuse me, sir, where am I?" The man looked panicked, to say the least. He looked around as if trying to find an escape before finally responding with an obviously practiced message.

"You are in Amegakure. Lord Pein has left you in the hands of his trusted Akatsuki; you won't be able to leave this building with your limbs intact. Deidara-sama has planted small bombs under your skin around your ankles and wrists. I am not allowed to say anything more, ma'am." Sakura tried not to scowl at the man as he scurried away, clearly frightened of her despite having nothing but a peaceful appearance. She stepped out the door of her room, wondering how painful it would be to try and dig out the bombs beneath her skin. The woman had no doubt it wasn't a bluff after her last run in with the blond bomber – it seemed like he would be more than happy to blast her to bits.

The pinkette wandered aimlessly through the halls of what appeared to be a tower, though she was uncertain due to the annoying lack of stairs. Over all, searching the building proved more than useless as she finally managed to lay eyes on a window. She was a bit giddy to finally be able to look outside, but this changed the moment she caught sight of the rain. Of course she had no doubt they hadn't been lying, but it _sucked _she was stuck in the land of "it never stops fucking raining" with no way to escape. She leaned against the window curiously, looking miles down to acknowledge she was correct that she was in a tower. The city itself was kinda cute, if she was being honest with herself – or, what she could see of it from her height.

"You're not supposed to leave your room, pinky." Sakura looked over her shoulder at the blue, fish-like man and scowled darkly.

"I'm not supposed to leave the _building_, fish-face." His laughter echoed down the mostly empty hall as she attempted to channel her chakra – only to hiss in pain. Flames absorbed her hands and she held them against her chest until it subsided, glaring daggers at the man before her. He held his hands up with his grin still intact, unbothered by her hostility.

"That's all Deidara, little girl. He was pretty pissed his "art was being wasted on something so trivial" but Leader-sama tends to be pretty persuasive. Who knew bombs could double as seals, mm?" She desperately wanted to punch this guy into the nearest wall, but trying to summon up her chakra to where she wanted only seemed to increase the pain in her body.

"Hn." Taking one from the Uchiha handbook she silently admitted her defeat, turning back to the window coldly. His snicker was not unnoticed by her as she leaned her forehead against the window with a sigh, enjoying the coolness it offered.

"I'm supposed to ask you about the tattoo on your tongue." Kisames voice was suddenly serious and she turned her attention back to him slowly.

"I can't—" Sakura began coughing abruptly, feeling the warning sting of her throat closing up as she shook her head a bit. She was gasping for air that was coming in short bursts of close to nothing as she leaned back against the wall; her head tilted up as she tried to remain calm.

"You can't tell us anything about it; a seal to kill you if you break during interrogation, right?" He finished and she gave him a thumbs up, trying to catch her breath as her throat slowly relaxed. The obvious way around this would be to just ask yes or no questions – as long as she didn't try to speak it wouldn't end her before they got what they wanted out of her.

"Can you remove it?" His next question got a sneer, the pink-haired female clearly unwilling to respond as she finally recovered from the burst of a panic attack.

"Only one person knows how to." Sakura was careful with the phrasing this time, taking a few deep breaths before pointing to the diamond on her forehead expectantly. The only person who could remove the seal was Tsunade – or herself, but she wasn't going to tell them as much for obvious reasons.

"That's inconvenient." He muttered gruffly. "I suppose you're probably hungry, eh? Follow me." She obeyed at the promise of food – more than willing to play nice as long as she wasn't starved. After all, the last time she ate was when she was posing as a lady entertainment for the Raikage – and even that was a pathetic excuse for a meal.

Being sexy + eating = nope.

Sakura tried to hide her discomfort upon finding her other captors all in one room as they reached the kitchen. However, it's hard to ignore several curious eyes on you with such a short temper; the female ended up pushing aside discomfort for irritation.

"If you have something to fucking say, spit it out." She seethed, earning a grin from the silver-haired man across the table. Kisame had made her sit so he could cook – she isn't allowed to touch anything that could become a weapon, apparently – so she found herself placed at a table full of wanted criminals that were way too far out of her league.

"Feisty, un." Sharp emerald eyes turned to glare at the blond bomber as he spoke; frustrated that her immediate thought for both men had been something along the lines of: _"Oh he's cute."_ His cocky smirk was not helping to keep her temper in check, though it was threatening to push some heat into her cheeks as she rolled her eyes and turned away.

"I think that's an understatement – even on sedatives she managed to knock Kisame into a wall when we were cleaning her up." This voice sent a shudder down her spine as her hackles raised defensively. Her eyes had widened slightly, but turned to the table top to avoid looking to see a dead man only a few feet away from her.

"I think you scared her, Sasori-danna, hm." Deidaras rather cocky confirmation only succeeded in making her even stiffer than she had been. Her fists were clenched as she resisted the urge to grind her teeth, instead biting down on her lower lip. The man scoffed a bit, though didn't respond as Sakuras mind began racing a mile a minute.

"Son of a bitch." She finally spit, letting her head fall against the table as she huffed. Of course she was incapable of killing the stupid puppet master. She could kill the Raikage, she could heal fatal injuries, she could even smash mountains under her hands – but she couldn't kill _one stupid puppeteer?!_ Life was being unnecessarily cruel to her these days; frankly, she wanted a drink.

"Someones got a dirty fucking mouth." Emerald eyes lifted to glare at the silver-haired male, sneering a bit as he smirked.

"Fuck you." He snickered as she turned her head back into the table, only to earn a whack on the back of the head. She sat up abruptly, reminded of the times Tsunade would catch her sleeping at her desk and hit her similarly, only to lecture her over the importance of keeping your guard up.

"Don't get too worked up, the worst is yet to come." Kisame chuckled as he handed her some kind of soup – which she was beyond grateful for despite the fact she could never admit it with any pride.

"Not even concerned we might try to poison you, un?" Sakura resisted the urge to be hostile, deciding she may as well make her stay here as pleasant as possible to avoid any pain they could cause her.

"It wouldn't matter if you did. Either way it goes, I'm going to die – I can't give you any information or that will kill me. You're going to kill me if you don't get the information; I'm going to kill myself by either antagonizing one of you or returning to the village without one of your heads on a pike." Without meaning to, her tone had become condescending; once she drank down the rest of her meal she considered pegging someone in the head with her bowl.

"Death all around unless I get some Godly intervention, nyeh?" She snickered as she stood, stretching a bit before returning to her room.


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura found herself sputtering for air as she flailed around in the darkness – the feeling of water all around her. She had no sense of direction as she spun aimlessly around in the black waters; still hearing laughter echoing from somewhere around her. The pale girls' lungs were screaming and before she could catch herself she breathed in.

When she did her eyes shot open – only to see a large silhouette come swimming by her, followed by something brushing her back roughly. The creatures surrounding her only solidified the idea she was dead and in some kind of Hell, though her body slowly began to rise as her lungs filled with the sludge-like liquid. Within moments she was floating on top of the blackness, staring up into a starry sky above her as she took in the air. The water in her lungs evaporated without much sputtering and she just lay there floating – unwilling to swim as she was surrounded with shifting forms along the top of the water.

"Someones lost her spunk." A deep voice chuckled from behind her and she turned her head slightly. A male with black holes for eyes stood on the bank, sneering at her frozen form. She eyed him over, noting he was a sickly pale – though his rather well-defined body said he was just fine. His hair was cut short; he was wearing an older samurai-style of clothing. All black. Everything on him was black outside from his snow-white skin.

A shudder passed over her as the water turned to grass and she sat up quickly, confused. Genjutsu? She shook her head slightly before standing shakily, turning to look at the male again only to find him gone. Her feet carried her that direction anyway, interested in the large array of flowers surrounding the area. Despite their various shapes and sizes they were all a single color – black. A small walkway through the dark flowers led to the only place with a natural color, it seemed. A large cherry blossom tree stood proudly in the center of the garden; the only rays of sunshine shining down on it brightly. Where the rays touched seemed to bring forth color in this otherwise monotone world and she found herself walking over to the oddity with some relief.

"If you're done sight-seeing," A voice said as she reached the tree and she turned, seeing the same man as before standing just outside the rays of sunshine. "I have a job for you." He finished with a smirk, arms crossed over his chest.

"Where am I?" Sakura demanded, brow furrowed. He just continued grinning at her as he responded, apparently amused with her question.

"You're in my garden, obviously." He waved a hand and she frowned slightly.

"Who are you?" She tried again and his smirk grew into a toothy grin. The woman stifled a gasp as he revealed a mouth full of sharpened teeth – much like that of a shark.

"You were asking for some "Godly intervention", weren't you? Or am I mistaken?" Suddenly she was shot to her knees with memories, eyes widening. _Oh no._

"Oh yes~" He responded to her thought, manic laughter bubbling from his lips. "I want you to serve me, little cherry blossom." He continued on with the job, apparently not caring she was horrified and confused all in one moment.

"There's a particularly nasty man I need you to get rid of." He explained and she dug her fingers into the grass beneath her, down casting her gaze. "Madara Uchiha – he's becoming a bit of a nuisance, really. His plan to take over everything would severely hinder my priests; I might be forced to start taking sacrifices for myself, and that's just no fun at all." Jashin concluded and she shuddered, shaking her head slightly.

"If I refuse?" The words were quiet and he blinked, obviously confused. "You can't, dear – you belong to me. I'm extending my kindness to you, though I suppose I could have just devoured you. Would that be preferred?" His voice was uncomfortably innocent and she looked up from her kneeling position to find the colorless male standing above her licking his lips. His blackened eyes shone hungrily and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

"It's a simple task, love." He offered, though he was clearly now contemplating the latter option seriously.

"I'll do it," Sakura responded after a moment and saw a pleased smile come to his face. "But may I as a question?" Jashins face became slightly puzzled for a second, all traces of humor leaving him for the moment.

"How do you expect me to kill him? He's already dead, isn't he?" His laughter echoed through the air as his physical form vanished, leaving her under the tree searching for him.

"I can't tell you everything, little one. That takes the fun out of it. Besides, we'll be in touch." The words howled through the wind as the world around her began to deteriorate. She went spiraling into the ground with a screech – passing back through the darkened waters with horror before her vision left her as well.

* * *

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." Sakura was pacing her room, fingers tugging at her pink locks as she fought the inevitable terror ripping at her soul. Surely she had imagined that; surely she hadn't just spoken to the _God of death and destruction_. Why would he offer anyone any peace? He enjoys chaos, right? Everything she had read of him said he was a sick, psychotic fuck who had his follower's murder to appease him. Then again, she was in the presence of a world-renowned priest of his – what was his name? Haden, Hidgens, Hake, Hiren - Hidan! The silver haired male from breakfast was his priest; excuse her, his _favorite _priest. Her door flew open as she decided to speak with the male – she heard unnatural laughter bubbling into her mind and shuddered.

"Where is that Jashinist bastard?" She hissed to herself as she made her way back to the kitchen, trying not to tremble. She was doing fairly well in not looking desperate to find him despite her searching; when she finally found Kisame sitting on the couch of some sitting room she was much more panicked.

"Kisame, I need to find Hidan." Sakura said stiffly, stepping in front of him with her hands on her hips. He raised an eyebrow at her, apparently confused as to why it was she thought she had any rights as a prisoner here.

"Check his room." Her blank stare earned a smirk as he rumbled out a sigh, giving her vague directions that she followed like it was Gods will. Or, excuse us, _Jashins _will – fucking Gods and their costly interventions.

"Hidan!" Sakura didn't bother with formalities as she knocked on his door. There was some loud scuffling and cursing before the door finally opened to reveal the glaring, half-clad male. Her face heated despite herself as she suddenly felt very foolish – and, frankly, rather like a hormonal teenager.

"What the fuck do you want?" The pink haired girl had never been so utterly terrified and attracted to someone in her entire life; this had left her face a bright pink as she fought to contain the rather childish urge to run away.

"Can you tell me about Jashin?" The words came tumbling out in a bit of a rush, earning a cocked eyebrow that could only be described as: 'are you fucking serious?'

"Where the hell did that come from?" He demanded and she awkwardly scratched the back of her neck, avoiding eye contact.

"Can we not pretend to be friends and you just tell me about your religion?" She scoffed quietly after a moment, shooting him an impatient glare.

"Or you can tell me, because otherwise I'm not telling you jack shit." Hidan commented with an equally irritated glare, leaving the pink tinted woman to scowl at him.

"Because unless I have lost my fucking mind – and I really don't think I have – your precious God apparently wants me to do his bidding. So as someone who actually _knows _about him and his otherwise mysterious ways, I figured you would be the one who would be best suited to assisting me."

His expression went blank for a long moment before he stepped back into his room, leaving the door open for her. Hesitantly, Sakura walked in and took a seat on his bed, arms folded over her chest as he shut the door and eyed her with a poorly hidden smirk.

"What a fucking pain in the fucking ass."


End file.
